Physicians from the Center for Vaccine Awareness and Research at Texas Children's Hospital reported that 10,000 Tdap immunizations have been administered to immediate family members of newborn babies at part of the nation's first and only major "cocoon strategy" vaccination program.
Designed to protect infants from the life-threatening and highly contagious pertussis (whooping cough) infection, the program aims to vaccinate family members who come in close contact with the infant.
Implemented at Harris County Hospital District's Ben Taub General Hospital, where the population is generally at higher risk for whooping cough, the cocoon strategy is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the only protection against whooping cough available to infants less than six months of age, too young to be protected by their childhood vaccines. More than 75 percent of young infants who contract whooping cough are infected by a member of their household.
Whooping cough cases in the U.S. rose 27 percent in 2008 to 13,200 cases, with 15 percent (2,048) occurring in Texas. Nationally 20 deaths were reported, four of which occurred in Texas, including one in Houston. All fatalities were infants under six months of age.
"The program's acceptance by families has exceeded our expectations," said Dr. C. Mary Healy, director of Vaccinology and Maternal Immunization at the Center for Vaccine Awareness and Research at Texas Children's Hospital.
Since the program's launch in January 2008, Healy reports that 96 percent of women who delivered babies at Ben Taub General Hospital and did not report a contraindication to the vaccine were immunized. On average, two family members per newborn have received the vaccine and as many as 10 in one family have participated. Most family participants were vaccinated prior to the infant's discharge from the hospital.
